Lily Potter and the Uppas of Declome
Chapter Two
Lily, Bethany, Susan, and the seven other Hufflepuff first years, trudged down to the greenhouses the following morning. They shared the class with Gryffindor, which bothered Lily. She felt uncomfortable being near the kids whose House she should have been a part of. Hugo greeted her a half-minute before Professor Longbottom showed up.
"Hey, Lily, how's it going?"
"I don't want to talk to you."
"But—"
"Shut it, cousin." Lily had never called Hugo "cousin" before. It was as if she resented that they had been friends ever since they could remember. How could different Houses cause such a rift between family members?
"Hello, class," said Professor Longbottom. He was a tad overweight, and his face held a shadow of remorse, as if he had done something horrible and wished he could take it back. His robes were a verdant green, perhaps to match the plants he loved so much. He pulled out a roll of parchment and called roll. When he got to Lily Potter's name, he looked at her. "Ah, Harry's daughter. Welcome to Hogwarts. Too bad you couldn't have been in my House, but you can't have everything."
Lily wondered which House Professor Longbottom headed. As he demonstrated to them how to handle snargluffs (which looked like purple cabbages), her mind drifted. She didn't notice how glum Hugo had become.
When the bell sounded, Lily led the Hufflepuffs away from the greenhouses. In a half-hour they'd have to be at History of Magic.
Professor Binns still taught the class. He was the only teacher from the time of Lily's father still teaching at Hogwarts. This was partly due to his being a ghost, and partly due to his refusal to take Professor McGonagell's advice to allow someone else to take his place.
Lily tried to listen to him, but his voice just droned on and on about goblin wars. He made them sound as dull as the process for making Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, which involved putting a vivicrator on a humflax shimblauge and pressing the genwan while whirling a dwig and saying the words Yuvver Wuvver thirty minutes after consuming a large helping of strawberry shortcake.
It couldn't be over too soon. Lunchtime arrived, and after that the Hufflepuffs had Potions with Ravenclaw.
Potions was taught by a medium-weight, enthusiastic witch named Professor Hamflox. If your concoction was bad, due to a lack of following rules, she'd say, "Well, I think you'll enjoy having this for your beverage instead of pumpkin juice tonight at dinner, hmmm?" It greatly annoyed Lily, though she knew Professor Hamflox wouldn't really force her pupils to drink foul potion, would she?
The next day they had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Uvburn. Bethany whispered in Lily's ear after class that Professor Uvburn looked like the Dracula she saw in an old horror movie with that name. Lily had expected something more exciting than waiting for her shadow to separate from her body, which Professor Uvburn had ordered the class to do during that first session. "Concentrate on releasing the dark side of yourself. Do it with all your ability. Your shadow is a separate entity, and you must know when it is not a part of you, for it might turn on you and cause you to suffer."
One kid said, "Aw, come on. Shadows can't harm you."
"You'd be surprised, kid. What's your name?"
"Midley Hooton."
"Well, Mr. Hooton, let me assure you that your shadow is your worst enemy. And if it becomes loose, it will be your equal. You will not be able to destroy it without destroying yourself."
"Have you ever been separated from your shadow, sir?" asked a girl.
"Yes," said Professor Uvburn. "In fact, I only have half a shadow left."
At signs of their disbelief, he stood in the middle of the room, candlelight revealing his shadow. The head and torso were missing. Only the legs and waist were seen.
Thus, Professor Uvburn inspired the class to concentrate on separating their shadows.
Lily's brain hurt as she left the classroom. She went to eat a Chocolate Frog. The card was Ralphus Motting, a wizard who had mixed blancmange and porridge to make porrmange. From 1234 to 1262, porrmange was a delicacy, but no one had tried it again till 1640, and only wizards who dwelled in caves near Lappland still eat it today.
After consuming the Frog, Lily rushed to her first Charms class. The Hufflepuffs shared the class with the Slytherins. Susan whispered to Lily that she thought the professor was kind of cute.
"My name is Professor Sootboro. I will be teaching you the wonderful and exact art of…well, Charms. We charm folks to make them like us. No, I'm kidding. Please laugh."
A few students forced themselves to laugh. There was nothing humorous about Professor Sootboro's statements.
"That's how Muggles use the word 'charm,' anyhow. Today we will only be covering the basics." Then, in an undertone that the class could barely hear, "Curse Doomis Doggfield, who created the most basic rules of basic Charms. Gosh how much I want to…" He smiled. "I'm sorry, class. My thoughts just keep pouring out. Pay no heed."
He demonstrated how they should handle their wands. "Of course, each spell you will l earn in here requires a different wand motion, but the first few I will show you require a flick like this."
So far, Lily's favorite first class had been in Charms.
Professor Acklehort's Transfigured into a hog before their eyes. It had white markings, though it was mostly black. It reminded Lily of her cat, Parsniffers, who had died two years before, eating a poisonous leaf. Of course, Parsniffers did not have a snout or a pig's tail, but the markings were in similar spots.
Then Professor Acklehort handed the class matches that they were supposed to turn into needles. Patrick Dursley stared at his wand. His mother rarely did magic around the house, and so he had rarely seen a wand being used, except when they visited Lavender's family, which only occurred once ever two years. He didn't like his Grandpa Vernon. When Vernon found out Dudley was marrying a witch, he told Dudley he was disowning him. Four years later he called and apologized, but said that he would not lay eyes on Lavender and the m-word must never be mentioned when Dudley visited with Vernon's grandson. The instant Patrick got his letter, he thought, I will associate only with witches and wizards. I hate Muggles. Not my father, though. But all of the others suck.
This is probably why the Sorting Hat chose him for Slytherin. Usually, half-bloods would be barred from that House. Only once in a blue moon was an exception made. The first day, Patrick learned from his friend, Scorpius Malfoy, that the most wicked wizard in recent history was a half-blood, and he had been put in Slytherin. But Patrick seemed to show general contempt toward other half-bloods, and Patrick wondered why Scorpius chose him for a friend.
Lily was oblivious to the things going on inside Patrick's head. It wouldn't have mattered to her, anyway. Though he was her cousin as much as Hugo, she barely knew him. She was still worried that she'd be scoffed at by her family for being put in the "rejects House," as she dubbed Hufflepuff inside her head. Tonight, she would look in the pool and spy on her parents, for they would be aware of her House placement by now.
She rushed through dinner. It tasted like paste, even though she ate a four-square meal. Then she hurried to the Hufflepuff dormitories. Just as she was about to descend the stairwell that would take her there, James showed up.
"Lily, don't feel bad about being in Hufflepuff," he said. "You were always the marshmallow in the family, anyway."
"And I suppose you and Albus are the chocolate?" Lily asked, on the verge of tears.
"Yes, and Mum and Dad are the graham crackers."
"James, your jokes are lame. And thanks for telling me in a subtle way that I'm pathetic."
She hurried down the stairs. James made to follow her, but his girlfriend stopped him. He didn't think of Lily again until much later.
Lily said the password and the badger statue jumped aside. Then she ran over to the pool. She tried to think of something happy, but nothing came to mind. She felt so miserable. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see her family in the pool's clear waters.